A collective “aw” rose into the air, and Ginger’s heart swelled with so much love for him.
“Who’s responsible for you there?” Judge Jerry asked.
“My dad,” Connor said, looking up at Nate. “And Spencer. And Jack. And Nick. There’s Emma, Jess, Jill, and Ginger too. And so many horses, and—” He stopped when Nate put his hand on the top of his head, and several people in the courtroom chuckled.
Including the judge. “So you have a lot of people looking after you.”
“And Ursula,” Connor said.
“And you, Mister Mulbury?”
“I report to Ginger Talbot, ma’am. She reports to the BOP.”
“Did Miss Talbot come with you?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Nate turned toward the audience, his eyes searching for her.
Ginger hadn’t realized she’d need to be part of the proceedings. She stood up, lifting her right hand halfway as if everyone wasn’t looking at her now.
The judge gestured for Ginger to join Nate and Connor at the small table on the other side of the short wall keeping the audience back from the podium. She made it to the table and reached down and pressed her palm flat against the wood, using it to steady herself.
“Your reports have been favorable,” Judge Jerry said, clearly a prompt.
“Yes, Your Honor,” she said, her voice scratchy. “Nate is such an excellent cowboy, I’m hoping to hire him on permanently once he’s eligible.”
She shuffled some more papers, which seemed to take a very long time. “And young man Connor. You want your Uncle Nate to be your father?”
He looked up at Nate, who nodded a couple of times. “Yes,” Connor said.
“Anything to add, Mister Matthews?”
“Only that Nathaniel is capable and ready for this responsibility, Your Honor. He’s already been doing it for months now.”
“Yes,” the judge mused. She finally closed the folder and looked up. “All right. I see no reason for the two of you not to be a family. I’m signing this now to make this a legal adoption, and to make things even easier, no one has to change any names.” She beamed out at them, and Nate did something Ginger had never seen him do before.
He whooped and picked up Connor, who laughed as he looked down at his new father.
Ginger wanted to commit this moment to memory, because it was so full of joy and so precious.
“You can have two minutes for a picture,” the bailiff said. “We’re ready for the Jacobsen’s.” He stepped over to the separating wall and Ginger moved forward with Lawrence. They stood back while Nate and Connor posed by the judge.
Ginger snapped pictures, the smiles now captured digitally forever.
Then they left the courtroom. Nate clapped Lawrence on the back of his shoulder, and said, “Thank you.”
“Anytime,” Lawrence said with a big smile. “I’ll see you in a couple of months.” He held up one palm. “Not a day before, okay, Nate? I don’t want to see you until February.”
“Deal,” Nate said. They watched Lawrence leave, and Nate finally turned his attention to Ginger. He burst out laughing again, and he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her right off her feet. She giggled with him, and Nate bent to pick up Connor. “Come on,” he said. “This calls for the biggest ice cream cone in Texas, and I know just where to get one.”
“Yeah!” Connor cheered, and it was a good long while before Ginger could stop smiling.
Chapter Twenty-One
Nate threw his cowboy hat into the air along with the other people wearing hats as the cheers went up and the clock clicked to midnight. “Happy New Year!” chorused through the West Wing, and Nate raised his voice along with the others.
He slipped his arm around Ginger’s waist and pulled her into his body before he kissed her. They laughed together, and the kiss was pretty sloppy. But it didn’t matter. Nate finally felt like his future held more than sleeping in a dormitory with a bunch of other men.
This year, he’d be free.
This year, he could start a new life.
This year, he would learn how to be a better father—and hopefully a husband.
He hugged Nick and wished him a Happy New Year. Everyone went around, laughing and talking and embracing. Nate had never been part of such a tight-knit community, and he sure did like it. He didn’t want to leave Hope Eternal, and he and Ginger had started talking about life after February seventeenth.
The date felt impossibly far away but also very, very close. He had no diamond ring to give to Ginger. He wasn’t sure where they’d live, as they both currently had a room in a house filled with other people. He wanted to talk to Connor and find out how he felt about Ginger being his stepmother.
He wanted to go visit his parents and his sister in White Lake, and he wanted to be more involved in their lives. He wanted Connor to have them in his life.
He needed a vehicle of his own, and he wanted to go through Ward’s house and see what had been left there. All of Nate’s personal property from his life before should be at Ward’s. He wasn’t even sure he’d want any of it, but he wanted to see what there was.
Ward had once gone through Nate’s apartment and boxed up what he deemed important. Now Nate would have to do the same for his older brother, his hero.
If he thought too hard about it, his chest started to collapse, and Nate couldn’t quite remember how to breathe.
His smile faltered, and he suddenly felt so tired. Cowboys didn’t stay up until midnight, that was for dang sure. Not when their chores started by six the next morning.
So he kissed Ginger again, this time not as sloppily, and went down the hall to the front room, where the girls had a piano and a small loveseat. Connor slept there, his face smashed into the upholstery. Nate smiled down at him, slipped the little boy into his arms, and disappeared out the front door to the quiet night beyond.
In the Annex, he took Connor into their bedroom and laid him on his side of the bed. Nate went to brush his teeth and change into his pajamas, and as he looked at himself in the mirror, he hardly recognized the man looking back at him. His skin had tanned in the months he’d been working on the ranch. His eyes almost seemed electric, because they possessed a quality he hadn’t been sure he’d ever feel again.
Happiness.
No, joy.
He had gone into prison as one man, and he’d come out a different one. A better one. “A hopeful one,” he said to his reflection. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, which had just started to grow out from his cut from a couple of weeks ago.
He couldn’t believe how much his life had changed in the last six months. Heck, in the last six years, Nate had grown more than he thought possible.
He was sure he was going to make stupid decisions again, but he hoped they wouldn’t have such devastating consequences. “I’m going to do my best, Ward,” he said. “I am. I’m going to do my best with Connor.”
The sweetest feeling of peace moved through him, and Nate turned and went back into the bedroom. He lay down on the other side of the bed from Connor, a powerful sense of relief moving through him. He listened to Connor’s steady, deep breathing, a smile dancing through his soul, before he fell asleep.